the beth -- the bill back better agenda, fiscal guidelines with michael burgess and then jeff gilbert talks about president biden's detroit trip and how electric vehicles are changing the auto industry, and later nevada democratic congresswoman tina titus gives her perspective on the president's bill back better agenda. ♪ host: good morning. it's wednesday, november 17, 2021. the senate returns at 930 a.m. eastern this morning. we are with you for the next three hours on the washington journal. yesterday the senate judiciary committee alejandra mayorkas

testified about the immigration policies of the biden administration conceding that the immigration system is fundamentally broken. democrats, it's (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. send us a text to (202) 748-8003 . otherwise catch up with us on social media, twitter, c-span on facebook, and on twitter @cspanwj. here we show you alejandra may arcus from yesterday's senate hearing. [video clip]

3 we must ensure -- >> we must ensure swift adjudication of asylum claims. the immigration system is fundamentally broken. congress must pass legislation to fix it. in the meantime we are taking action within our authorities and reinforcing immigration laws, including those of accountability and humanitarian relief, enforcing expedited women -- removal, investigating and disrupting the smuggling and drug trafficking organizations. we have leveraged fema's coordination capabilities, activated the volunteer force of employees from across the department and expanded processing capacity. resulting in the prompt approval of those qualified and of those who do not. host: the homeland security

secretary yesterday. among the issues focused on in hearing was the record 1.7 million migrant apprehensions along the southern border that happened between october of 2020 and october of 2021. that was a record of all time. here's lindsey graham of south carolina and is questioning yesterday. [video clip] >> of the 1.7 million the came here illegally, how many have been released into the country? >> senator, i can break it down to the best of my ability. nearly one million approximately i've it's a 965,000 have been subject to expulsion under title 42 of the united states code. >> how many left? i believe approximately 40,000 have been removed under our immigration authority.

>> slow down, that gets us to like 840,000 people? >> no, no, 900 65,000 were expelled. -- 906 the 5000 were expelled. 40,000 have been removed -- 965,000 were expelled. 40,000 have been removed. children transferred to the custody of shelter of health and human services. the balance are to the best of my knowledge in immigration enforcement proceedings. >> where does that leave us? how many people are still here? of the one point 7 million, how many people are still here? >> i would estimate approximately 375,000 are still here. >> yes, ok. >> that is my best estimate.

>> right. do you believe that if you have an immigration hearing and there is a final order of deportation, that person should be removed? >> i do. >> ok, why is one million people still here after they get a final order of deportation? >> senator graham, as i responded -- >> is the system working? >> the immigration system is broken. >> let me say this, it has been really broken if one million people have been ordered to leave and they haven't left. host: if you want to watch the hearing in its entirety, you can do so at our website, c-span.org . you heard again in the clip the term broken immigration system and the question for viewers this morning is what changes to the immigration system would you support? if it is broken, how would it be changed? phone lines for democrats, republicans, and independents.

bill, republican, good morning. caller: this is jfk junior. i just wanted to confuse those supporters in dallas. in the last administration reexported cruelty. all the money that obama come up with to give to those countries in south america to keep this wave of immigration coming, it was canceled. all of that was canceled. because we wanted to be cruel to people on the border. lindsey graham is talking about he's so upset about 375,000 people left in the country. it's his job to vote to make some kind of immigration policy where the whole country is based on immigration. we are all immigrants. everyone of us. let me say something, if they regulate medical marijuana, why

isn't q regulated? host: independent line, good morning. >> i've been watching this and they are saying that people are coming here illegally and the biden administration is not doing anything to stop it. it's not the job of the biden administration to make immigration law. they can stop the illegal immigrants from coming to america by listing the employers that employ them. five years in jail, watch how fast they won't employ them. the second thing they can do is make it illegal to give them free medical care and preschool for their kids. if you do that, they will turn around and leave. they want them to come here because they want cheap labor, but they don't want to admit that they wanted to come here -- they want them to come here so

they pass it off from one group for the next and they blame it on biden. that border could be closed down with those laws. 40% of the people that come here our visa over stays that are illegal. they need them to pick fruit and do the dirty work that americans don't want to do but they don't want to admit it. thank you. host: democratic line, maryland, good morning. caller: morning. i'm in agreement with the previous callers, surprisingly. the immigration policy, i think we need to do more around the education around these policies. we need americans to understand the history of immigration in this country. what i mean by that is not just who is coming in and how we have been xenophobic in reception to those coming in, but how the policies have ripped countries

in south america, central america, and other parts of non-western states. if we can inform policy with history, we might be more compassionate and how we intervene in immigration. host: another issue the republicans were keen on asking the home and secretary about where the reports of potential settlement payouts for immigrant families who were separated at the border as a part of former president trump's zero-tolerance policies at the border. this is senator ted cruz of texas and his exchange with secretary yorke us -- secretary mayorkas. [no audio]

4.5 times what we pay the family of a servicemember who is killed in combat. if we pay millions of dollars to illegal immigrants, in your professional judgment will we get more or less illegal immigration? >> senator, let me say this. i do not think a mother who would travel to the united states in the hands of traffickers so that she can be separated from her seven-year-old daughter period

-- daughter for a period of time, i do not think it would be a pull factor. >> i said do you think it's a good idea to pay the money and would you give more or less? >> i cannot speak to the advisability of centering -- settling federal tort claims act skin which i'm not involved. host: asking you -- act in which i'm not involved. host: that from yesterday. the secretary yesterday conceded the system was a broken system and called on congress to make changes to the system. margaret, kansas, good morning. you are next. caller: i would like to agree with the person who called to be more educated about our behavior.

you know, hotels, coffee, bananas. we get these things and then we complain. as climate change happens there will be more and more and more people desperate where they live anymore. so, we have to understand how the world is working. you can't just take the kids and stick them in cages. you can hire people to do the roofing and working and then act like they have done something wrong. the world is all humans. we were all immigrants. people migrated all over. the world is at a scary point. you are going to leave people

freezing like in belarus? people where you have just taken things and used them and then not provide anything? it's really sad. it's not sustainable at all. it's not. it's going to lead to war and moral collapse. host: texas, republican line, good morning. caller: i love it, c-span. i which i could get it in hd. i think that what we have to do here is understand that at the federal level they can make guidelines, they can vote on this at the federal level, right? they can say look, you will get funding if you meet this criteria but ultimately it's up to the states and this is an actual conservative idea here, which wasn't an idea before. the states can determine their immigration on the border and if

they meet the criteria of the federal regulation they will get extra funding. that is why it's important to vote at the state level, conservatives. host: that is tony and texas. more from yesterday's hearing, senator chris coons asked secretary mayorkas how federal legislation could improve the current immigration system on the border and this is what he said. >> --[video clip] >> there's areas where humane treatment of migrants should align, creating an orderly process to disempower smugglers and help protect the safety of migrants, addressing multiyear asylum backlogs giving migrants stability while in vote -- avoiding unhelpful incentives. you have taken a whole range of initiatives like restarting the safe pathway for refugees in the united states and increasing the

number of visas to a broader range of countries, creating opportunities for legal migration and improving the expedited removal process of a dedicated docket. i think there's a lot of things we can and should do consistent with the rule of law, but we have to have patience to invest in the long term willingness to make some fundamental changes. how do you think that we in congress can support your efforts through legislation? >> you described a number of efforts we have underway, promulgating them through policy as well as through regulation. the enduring, the enduring solution is immigration legislation. to fix our broken system. to bring much-needed reforms to our asylum system and to every aspect of our immigration system

so that the best and brightest, as senator klobuchar referenced, the individuals who can provide so much prosperity and create american jobs will bring their talents and energy to this country and have an ability to remain here and make the contributions. it's across the board achieving the goals of family unity, economic prosperity and humanitarian relief. the opportunities are tremendous and they have existed for many, many years and i do hope that congress promulgates legislation for the enduring solution. host: about 15 minutes left in the first segment of the washington journal today. about this discussion about what changes to the immigration system you support. later today we will be joined by the democratic and republican members of congress. we will be joined by tina titus and mike burgess.

we will also be talking about the president biden trip today to detroit to talk about electric vehicle investments and what the new bipartisan infrastructure law means for those investments. plenty to talk about today, 15 more minutes left in this segment. we have been looking for your social media comments as well to this question, what changes to the immigration system do you support? thoughtful process, what better changes can congress pass? this from lucian, saying that most of the people crossing the border are refugees, not illegal immigrants and given that, more immigration attorneys and social workers need to be hired to make the process of serving these people go faster. what's really happening is political through the gop. when referring to the record apprehensions in 2021, when the

border patrol arrests a record number of immigrants it sounds like they are doing their job. border states are responsible for their borders and should be prepared. carl saying in a world where capital crosses borders in a click of a button it's an act of barbarism to cattle them at the border. the best solution is to embolic the capitalism and imperialism that creates and harms of migrants. grand master saying that the solution left -- let in more women than men. eric, d.c., line for democrats, good morning. go ahead, sir. >> -- caller: i'm an immigrant from cameroon. i don't want to generalize on immigrants being bad, some people come from the culture -- the countries they are from dealing with war.

i think it should be determined case-by-case. if someone is here illegally, that person should be able to be deported or sent back to people are coming here because they are fleeing from war or a government that is persecuting them, i think the case should be different. host: tony, walcott, connecticut, good morning. caller: good morning. i've been long waiting for this. last i saw, the panama government said that there were 400,000 illegal immigrants coming up from central america, south america, all around the world. i watched the hearing yesterday. may your kiss was very unprepared. you should show the other cart were cruise asked him a number -- ted cruz asked him a number of questions he couldn't answer.

my question is, when trump was in office they had the aoc and people like that coming down to the border to check and see illegal immigrants, especially kids, dying in the river, right in the rio grande river. where is aoc now? where are these people? their silence is deafening. what about all the people coming in with covid? we know that. they said that on c-span. these people are being spread out across america. i bet if you laid out a map of where they spread these people and where the covid outbreaks are, you would find some kind of correlation. the hypocrisy is terrible, terrible as far as what's going on. dead children in the rivers and cnn and other stations, they don't even report it.

it's disgusting. we need to build a wall. we are paying millions of dollars to let the materials for the wall sit there and to be guarded or whatever and where are the people coming in around the places? where the walls aren't being built. host: greg in huntsville, alabama, you are next. >> three quick -- caller: three quick points to make. 11 million, i've been hearing that for years now. 1.7 per month. host: in the latest fiscal year. october 1 october 1. >> so we could raise that to 12.7 but we need to quit saying 11 million but if there are 30 if there's one. 30 million if there's one. we have what, 3 million unemployed, 11 million job openings? we are kind of hurting for employees. manpower is what it takes to make businesses run and we have a huge labor shortage.

i'm paying 10 more dollars per hour than i was paying to the employees and they were impossible to find and the last two i hired, they were late on the last -- first day of work. i've never seen it like this. host: what kind of business is it? >> irrigation and drainage. and i have concerns because our infrastructure does need repair, but biden wants to do an infrastructure bill in the bill will put a lot of people to work and a lot of union workers to work more than likely and it will go to major cities and it will go where folks go. but we are going to be looking at another strain on materials. there's a shortage of all pvc. my pvc went from 30 -- $.13 per foot to $.31 per foot overnight

and more for schedule 41 inch. that's insane, you can't keep up with material costs, lumber and glass. we are going to take more materials, concrete, asphalt, iron, steel. we are going to try to put more people to work? there's no one out there to go to work. i don't know how we will build an infrastructure. there's no one to go to work. if you want to be bipartisan, build the wall, opened the door, ring people through, issue them a social security number and let them earn their way to citizenship. immigrants built this country and let them go to work and earn their way in. we need more good hard-working people with a good work ethic and give them an opportunity to do it and then you don't have anybody hiring illegals or people cheating, you don't have immigrants dying in the rio grande. help them come across, enter them into the system and let them work their way to citizenship.

what are we producing now? 1.7 kids per household? who's going to support the social programs in 20 years? wait until the hispanic labor unions take place, like other immigrants have done with unions. we will have the hispanic brotherhood that we are paying a ton of prices for. that's the next problem. host: you mentioned the infrastructure bill. it's now the infrastructure law. president biden selling at around the country, he was in new hampshire yesterday to talk about the investments in that state when it comes to the infrastructure law and today he's headed to detroit, the general motors factory therefore the electric vehicle assembly in detroit and he will be expected to speak later this afternoon and we will be carrying it on c-span.org and you can of course watch it as well on the new, free c-span now video app. jim, vance berg, kentucky,

democrat, good morning. caller: i think it would have been better to say what do you think is going to be done about the immigration problem and the answer is the same thing that's been done for the last 50 years, with the exception of donald trump, nothing. have a nice day, john. host: david, rochester, new york. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. my statement and question is this, why aren't we, well not weak, but why isn't the government, with all of its resources, going after the people who are hiring these people. let's talk about that. let's talk about the fact that they are able to get their resources and their act together to go after poor folks who are

maybe peddling an illegal substance in the neighborhood, they can kick indoors to take their resources and the money they made, but they are not going after all these rich white guys. that's all i would like to say. thank you. host: from today's "wall street journal," jason reilly's column today, border crisis has the biden presidency on the edge. the first two graphs of that story, hard to know the extent to which dachshund

host: joe, red bank, new jersey, good morning. caller: hello. most of the immigration regulations need to be changed. i would impose a tax on the money that immigrants send back to their foreign home countries by working in the united states. one thing i think might help is if here in new jersey, we just had an election. a man who was a truck driver beat one of the most powerful legislators in new jersey spending only $1500.

if a young professional or lawyer is interested in a political career i would start in the independent party, consisting of only myself, i would put ads in the papers, flyers, and call myself the immigration reform party. all it would take his one or two congressmen to lose their jobs by immigration reform party members and things would change in the mess that we have now quite quickly. thank you. host: last call. susan, kingston, good morning. caller: yeah, i know how to fix the immigration system. i think it makes politicians look foolish. the first thing they should do is you have to acknowledge the people that do immigration illegally. you know, when they are on the list and waiting on mine, they have hired lawyers and that's not fair when people come in

illegally. but the people that have been here, you know, 25 years, 30 years, i would put a number limit on it. once you know you are integrated into america, i don't think anybody, doesn't matter what your color is, i don't think you should have to leave, you know? i think it's a numbers thing. five years and under? maybe two years and under? you know, that's different. but if you can prove you have been here in america for you know, over 10 years, there's a lot of sad situations where fathers get kicked out, moms do and the kids are here and i don't think that should happen at all with anybody. you know, but if they have just crossed over this year, you know i think that's a different story. amnesty is a different deal. you don't have a country if you keep giving amnesty to people.

it's not really like a real country anymore. that's all i wanted to say and i'm sick of hearing about quite, white, white this on tv with everybody. that's very prejudice to hear. i have respect for anybody who has respect for their identity and heritage and you shouldn't be ashamed of what you are. thank you. host: susan, illinois. stick around. plenty more to talk about this morning, we will be joined by michael burgess, member of the budget committee, to discuss president biden's build back better agenda and later jeff gilbert joins us from detroit to discuss the president's visit there today and the future of electric vehicles. stick around, we will be right back. ♪

>> today, federal communications commission chair nominee jeff and -- and other nominees testify before the senate commerce, science, and transportation committee. watch live coverage at 10 a.m. eastern on c-span three, online at c-span.org, or watchful coverage on c-span now, the new video app. >> download c-span's new mobile app and stay up to date with live video coverage of the days

biggest political events with live streams on the house and senate floor in key congressional hearings. even our live interactive morning program, "washington journal," where we hear your voices every day. c-span now has you covered. download the app for free today. >> "washington journey -- journal" continues. host: congressmen, we are all waiting for that congressional budget office breakdown of the bill back better act but are already hearing reports that the white house may be trying to brace for a cbo score that might show that the bill is not fully paid for. if that's the case, what are you and your republican colleagues going to do with that information and do you think the fate of the bill hangs on the cbo score? guest: thanks for having me on.

it does appear they have put a lot of their chips on the cbo score. you asked, what will republicans do? republicans were against this thing before the cbo score became the principal issue. so, no republican is likely to change their mind and vote for the bill back better act. now the question will be where do these so-called moderate democrats land. they have argued all along that they need to see the cbo score. the president has a -- has affirmed again that the bill costs nothing. i guess if he is reinforced in that position, i guess perhaps it brings his moderate democrats more eagerly to vote in favor but you and i know it's not likely to be that clear cut and is highly likely that this bill costs significantly more than zero. host: the claim that it costs

nothing and the claim that this bill could help fight inflation, i want to play a clip from the sunday shows from cnn on sunday. [video clip] >> inflation is high and it's affecting consumers and their pocketbook and their outlook for the economy but those concerns underscore why it's so important that we move forward on this build back better legislation that the house is considering this week. more than anything it will go at the costs that americans face. health care, one of the biggest costs, this will lower prescription drug prices, put a cap on prescription drug costs for seniors. childcare, not only a big costs driver for families but an impediment for women and families to get back into the workforce in this bill will cut the costs of child care by more than half for most working families. housing, too, this bill will build affordable homes around

the country to make it easier for families to afford housing and moved to places where the job opportunities are. all of these things go right at lowering costs for american families and the bill is fully paid for. we will pay for everything in the bill by raising taxes on big companies, large corporations, and the highest income americans . there is an urgency to act. we are looking forward to making progress and getting it done. guest: he just doubled down on the cbo score aspect, that it isn't the bill itself, that it won't costs anything. we know that's a fairytale. if you are going to start us -- tell a story, start with once upon a time. the problem has been not just the amount of money being spent, but the speed with which it's being spent. the economy cannot absorb all the excess dollars being flushed

into the system. larry summers, and obama economist, warned us about this last january or february when we had the first reconciliation bill. remember, that was the one that was going to crush the coronavirus. didn't exactly work out. it pumped almost $2 billion into the economy and now we are doubling down with a bill that will probably end up costing closer to or trillion dollars in the dollars have nowhere to go. they are pushed out into the economy and there simply aren't, there's no place to absorb them. what happens? it drives the price up. producers and builders see that there is a demand where a price can be increased and there are dollars to fill the demand, of course they are not going to, nature abhors a vacuum and they won't let it exist.

host: the congressman is with us until the top of the hour, so go ahead and start calling in. shifting gears to the infrastructure law, president biden on the road selling this law this week. one estimate says the law could bring 35.5 billion dollars in hard infrastructure funding to the state of texas. you voted against the bill when it was before the house. why vote against that kind of funding for the state of texas? guest: let's make sure the numbers are straight. $34 billion and get the dollar figure affixed to the hard infrastructure that was contained in the infrastructure bill was $110 billion total. don't tell me that texas will get one third of those dollars. that is not correct. you know, we normally do a highway bill. we collect tax dollars from every purchase in the country.

18.4 cents per gallon that goes into the highway trust fund and every five years there's a highway bill that comes through the committee of the congress where the maintenance and building of new projects is debated and the highway bill is the typical way those dollars in the highway trust fund are expanded. so, a highway bill itself is not , is not an anomaly. what was the anomaly was adding all the other stuff to the bill. look, constituents in my district are not that anxious to have a charging station every 40 feet on the interstate. electric cars may be the car of the future but they are not here yet. we have needs that far outstrip what the projects were in this bill. and then on top of that, look, if you live in the northeast corridor and you take amtrak a

lot, amtrak is going to do pretty well on this bill. except that when it was created in the 1970's, remember, it was supposed to be self-supporting but now you have got billions more going into the maintenance of amtrak and this was something that was supposed to be taken care of itself by this time. host: plenty of calls already. let's get right to them. dale, independent line, good morning. caller: i would like to, you name a number of things that you are not for. i'm wondering, is there anything in the bill back better feel that you could support? you had that tremendous storm last year in texas. ted cruz was going down to cancun for a week.

until he got caught. i would like to understand, things that republicans have kinda been stuck in, not realizing, it can't just look towards the present, you got to look at the future and the future is going to be electric cars. why not get ahead of that right now? guest: so it begs the question and i don't disagree that electric cars may very well be the future. the public may make that choice. it should be the consumer upon choice to make and if that is the case, who should be funding the electric charging stations? probably the manufacturers of electric cars or, just like gasoline stations now find that there is a business model for selling the fuel someone needs to move them from point a to point. now the fuel may be electricity and the rapid charging out that's, but why would that not be a business plan that someone

would undertake? why does the government have to be the one that fronts the capital for that? and takes ownership of it? the gentleman makes a very good point, it's hard to spend $4.5 trillion and not have something in there that's worthwhile. yes, there are probably things i could pick out in their, this being something we should talk about. but here's the, this is the fundamental problem. this spending was from the get go going to be partisan. there was no attempt to let's go to the committees, open it up, have hearings. let's find out where the real deeds are and drill down on those and make sure we are spending the taxpayer dollar wisely and then make the investments where there is broad agreement that this is, this is

actually necessary. we didn't do any of that. the bill sprang forward already written and created from the office of the speaker of the house and yes, they have a five vote majority in the house of representatives, so if they can keep their folks in line, they will pass the bill who the house. here's the bad news for them, the senate is split 50-50 and a bill of this nature cannot pass the senate with 50 votes unless it is under special budget rules called reconciliation. but reconciliation has some pretty strict parameters drown around it. if they violate those parameters , then suddenly they will have to achieve the 60 vote geordie that you normally would to stop a filibuster. this bill will come back from the senate, if the house passes it, and they will, today, tomorrow, next week, who knows, the bill will then go over to

the senate and when it comes back it will in no way resembled a bill sent over. but here's the deal, when it comes back the house will simply have to rubberstamp it and send it back to the president for signature. there won't be a chance to amend it or fine-tune anything. there will not be a chance to debate anything. it will be a take it or leave it proposition when the bill comes back from the senate. that's why it is so dangerous to go down the reconciliation road. they made the choice in january that they were not going to involve republicans at any level. i also sit on the energy commerce committee. we have broad jurisdiction over energy projects. we might well have had some hearings and have looked at what the opportunities and possibilities were. but that didn't happen. the decision was made that the bill was going to be written by the speaker. we had a markup of a

reconciliation bill but we couldn't change anything. any republican amendment offered was voted down on party lines and as a consequence you have got what you have got and it is in no way a desirable product and here's the thing, to spend that much money you could have done all kinds of good things but they chose not to go that route. host: line for republicans, joanne, good morning. caller: how is everybody this morning? good to talk to you, michael. i support you 100%. i'm a conservative. love my fox channel, they are the only ones that bring the good news to you. the true news to you, what's happening on our borders. i'm sorry for the people of texas having to put up with the crap that's going on down there. i tried to send money to you. i hope you build the wall.

you have got all of my support. the one thing about the bill coming out, talking about early childhood learning, to get mothers back to work. how are you going to get mothers back to work? three and four-year-olds can't get a vaccine. you will have teachers in their on our dime and nothing ever happens. i am so disgusted. kamala harris? are you kidding? first woman vice president? do nothing kamala. i can't believe democrats believe in this woman talking about e-verify. it was the democrats that took that out of the policy to do that. why was that? so they could keep the borders open and higher all the deplorable's coming across the border. host: you bring up a lot of issues, i want to give the congressman a chance to answer

some. caller: as we all know -- guest: as well know, c-span is a valuable resource and people should consult c-span for the news. no secret that she and i agree on the border issues. i think the previous administration, president drum -- president trump had done finally what was required to get control of certainly the border we share with mexico in the state of texas. and then all of that was jettisoned on day one of the new administration and we see the result of that. people forget the other results. it's not just the television pictures of the people streaming across. there are probably double the number of deaths of people who have just simply run out of gas in the middle of the desert. run out of food, run out of water in perished in the heat in

the deserts of south texas. this is a dangerous undertaking. there's no way to know how many people have been lost on the trip from guatemala through mexico to get to the southern border. the coyotes, the child traffickers, the human traffickers, they are making a lot of money off of poor people who may be in a tough situation who want a better life. you cannot deny it's not a noble goal, but now they are fleeced by these traffickers brought to this country. they pay a lot of money for that. why we haven't done more to interrupt that cash flow, i don't know. i have argued for that. maybe a way to tackle the problem we have on the southern border is to the banking system. but nevertheless, we continue to fuel it and it's frustrating when people see the same stories

day after day after day about what's going on on the southern border and the only real logical answer you can come to right now is that this is something, a situation that is desired and encouraged by the administration , that there's a value in flooding the country of people coming in without the benefit of citizenship or authorization and as the lady pointed out correctly, there are a lot of people who have been sitting patiently in line, playing by the rules and it does take a long time to integrate under normal circumstances and it has to be frustrating and insulting for them to see what the position of the administration has been with allowing so many people in with basically no, no effort to stop it and then the united states customs and border patrol gets these folks to their

proper destination, so we are providing the destination for the last -- the transportation for the last mile of someone's journey host:. just about -- journey. host: the idea of running it like a committee hearing, does that mean i can get a gavel? guest: you can have a gavel. [laughter] host: you spent decades as a doctor seeing patients and i wanted to run by you a survey of critical-care nurses. this is what it found, want to get your thoughts, 92% of over 6000 nurses surveyed said that the pandemic had depleted the nurses in their hospital and 66% said that pandemic experiences have caused them to consider leaving the profession, 76% saying that the unvaccinated threaten nurse physical well-being and 67% say that

taking care of covid-19 patients puts them and their families at risk. your thoughts on those survey numbers? guest: no question, these people have been on the front lines to the pandemic. can't say i would disagree with any of those statistics you have put up there. i don't know in this particular group what the vaccination rate was. you do sometimes see in health care workers that there is a reluctance to receive the vaccine. i can't say that i fully understand that. i've been vaccinated, everyone in my family has. i feel very confident in the vaccines available and i think they have provided us at least one of the tools we need to get beyond this pandemic. but i do not think that mandating has been particularly helpful and i think it has

driven oppositional behavior and i think the administration has really dropped the ball in that regard and now of course we have osha coming in and telling the company's that employ more than 100 people that they are forced to comply and all we are doing is driving people away when we should be welcoming them in and one of the big mistakes at the beginning was not involving just regular doctors offices more in the distribution of the vaccine and in providing the vaccine for patients when they came in for whatever ailment. that would be a great time to have a discussion about the importance of vaccine and for perhaps someone to use the opportunity to get vaccinated. the difficulty with keeping people on the job in those situations is significant and part of it, to, is the amount of money that was -- too, is the

amount of money pushed out the door for coronavirus relief, which really made it a buyers market out there for people who wanted to be contract employees. many of the hospitals having trouble with coronavirus, like the rural hospitals in my state, that's one of the things i get complaints about. not only can we not hire anyone, all of our existing staff are being hired away and you cannot fault them. they are being offered significant amounts of money to go work somewhere else. but as the survey pointed out, there is a very high emotional costs with that as well and now, of course, you are separated from your family and your support structure. we are not done with this virus. this virus has unfortunately been much worse than many of our public health experts thought it was going to be but i do feel that we are getting beyond it and the news that pfizer has a

true antiviral and that merck i believe also has a true antiviral, pfizer is going to allow other manufacturers to produce the product, so there will be a worldwide opportunity for distribution, that's a way we will ultimately get past this, but until we do, all of those statistics that were generated by the critical-care nurses are probably not going to improve. host: russell, south carolina, thanks for waiting. caller: these charging stations every 40 feet, every quarter of a mile, i would like to ask you, are there going to be hotels there? my research is that these cars can go about 200 miles on a charge and that it takes approximately eight hours to 12 hours to charge the vehicle. will there be hotels at each charging station? what will people do for the

hours when they are waiting and waiting and waiting? guest: look, the gentleman has proposed a rather attractive is this model that someone may want to seek the opportunity there. i will tell you, look, i have driven a hybrid cars since 2004. i like the hybrid technology. plug-in hybrids have really not been available in my area because all the ones that are produced go to the east coast or the west coast, but i do think that the plug-in hybrid as it becomes more available actually makes more sense. yes, they are probably going to be able to build a vehicle that can go 600 miles on a single electric charge. but the battery and that vehicle will by necessity be massive. so the weight becomes a problem. what if you divide that up into,

say, 4, 6, or eight other batteries and put those in a plug-in hybrid? most of us in our normal work day or commute is probably somewhat less than 100 miles round-trip, so you could do your formal weekday commuting truly on the charge that you do yourself at your home at night. and then you do have the gasoline engine part of the car if you want to go to the beach on the weekend. host: for the caller, might be interesting to stick around, in about five minutes or so we will be talking more about electric echols with an auto industry reporter at wwj news radio out of detroit, digging in to the electric vehicle market. guest: i need to point out i was being hyperbolic when i said charging stations every 40 feet, but there is a lot of money for charging stations in the infrastructure bill. host: that would be a heck of a lot of charging stations.

stephen, good morning. caller: you mentioned how covid money with the benefits, it's over $1 trillion going to large and small businesses for covid relief. like for personnel. a lot of those companies use that for buybacks and give their ceos bonuses. we didn't hear one word from republicans about the money going to businesses but when the democrats proposed spending money on average working people to make their livelihood easier, we hear all this about inflation. that it's not possible. do you have an answer for that? guest: sure, first off the cares act, coronavirus for the package that passed the house of representatives in march of

2000, march 27, the stipulations around that money that could be provided to businesses large and small, small businesses with payroll protections, large businesses were a different scenario. the money was actually not to be used, not available to be used for things like stock buybacks and in fact if there was forensic evidence that that had occurred, those dollars would have to be refunded. those were set up originally as loans that could be forgiven. the very fact that they were loans as far as the large businesses were concerned, that money would not be available for stock buybacks and again, if someone is aware of where that is happening, i'm sure the treasury would be interested in that and be interested in reclaiming those funds.

i can't, i don't recall hearing or searing where executives got bonuses. a number of executives were not taking paychecks themselves through the worst part of this. anyone who's not a small business knows that those small business owners did not get paychecks or bonuses during the worst parts of the pandemic. the cares act also provided direct relief in the form of a tax refund to literally everyone who earned under $150,000 a year or maybe $200,000 per year. that was repeated in december, though i thought that number was small in december. remember, the president, president trump at the time spoke against that and said he not be giving to regular people

and i was in favor of increasing that room -- that amount. unfortunately, the senate didn't take it up and it never became law. again, not to be argumentative, but the job of congress is to maybe dig down into these issues and try to discern what the problem is, what the best solution would be. this is what we are supposed to do in the committees. committees like ways and means. even transportation. we are authorized and are supposed to dig down and get the information. with all of the coronavirus money, it just went out the door , we didn't do the background information that in march of 2020i submitted was important to do.

hit hard, incredibly destructive economically, people losing their jobs right and left. something had to be done to provide immediate help and it was done. that's the purpose of the cares act. it took nancy pelosi and mitch mcconnell many more months to come to a decision about the next step. that is the bill that passed in december. my argument was that we should be holding hearings about how these dollars were divvied up, being spent, issues like executive bonuses could have been more fully investigated. if congress is doing its work, those types of difficulties should be dealt with, but

congress chose not to do its work. in december, that bill did pass. there was almost immediately with the new administration another bill. $1.4 trillion went to coronavirus relief and then another bill passed in february with no one looking back to say, did we spend all the money that we sent out in december and in march of 2020? that has been the problem. we will not do the investigative work to find out have we spent dollars wisely? if more dollars are needed? where and why? host: i wanted to ask you about something viewers might see later on the house floor.

house democrats plan to move on wednesday to formally rebuke paul gosar of arizona and strip him of his committee assignments for posting an animated video showing him killing a congresswoman and attacking the president. guest: no one should be doing anything that could be seen to incite someone to do something like that, but there were other ways of approaching this. there was never even a formal ethics committee investigation. this all happened rapidly. the member in question did put the video up, took it down at the request of our republican leader. he probably has not apologized as effusively as some would like, but that would be a better

route than further division and antagonism in the house, a house that is nonfunctional right now because of partisan rancor. host: michael burgess, always appreciate your time. next, we will turn to electric vehicles and president biden's trip today to detroit. we will be joined by jeff hilbert, and audio -- auto industry reporter and later representative dena titus joins us to discuss the infrastructure law and the back better legislation. we will be right back. ♪

host: jeff gilbert joins us via

zoom. he is an auto reporter in detroit. good morning. president biden is going to be in the motor city today as he tells the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law. who is he going to be talking to? guest: he is headed to a general motors factory renamed factory zero. the start of gm's ev program. it had been called the detroit-hamtramck factory. it had once made big cars, a number of different vehicles over the years. it was on the closing list until gm and the uaw worked out a deal to refurbish it for a new

generation of electric vehicles. today is the grand opening. having a vip there brings attention. host: and the president wants to bring attention to investments in the infrastructure law. what is in there for ev? guest: the biggest thing is $7.5 billion for charging stations. there is also one independent commercial venture called electrify america that is part of the settlement. there are a lot of charging stations going up, but these would be allocated to underserved areas. for example, rural areas where there might not be a commercial reason to put an ev charger there.

a company would not make money there, but you still need to refuel in those areas. host: we would love to hear from ev owners. our phone lines are split regionally. you can call (202) 748-8000 from the central time zones. mountain or pacific, (202) 748-8001. jeff gilbert, you cover the automotive industry. where did the industry stand on the infrastructure bill that is now law? did they make any policy pushers that did not make it into the final legislation? guest: with this bill, they wanted more of a charging infrastructure. they got that. the other bill that is still being argued about, what president biden calls filled

back better, what carmakers want is money for incentives for people buying electric vehicles. that has become a major political hot potato. there are currently incentives, that they face out after you sell over 200,000 electric vehicles. so gm and tesla do not get incentives. this bill would expand with extras for american-made evs and extras for union made ev's. some of the startups like tesla do not like that idea. companies that are foreign but making vehicles in the u.s. that are not union built, they do not like that. the union built parts, the extra incentive, it is still in the current bill, but we do not know

for sure if it will pass. host: a snapshot of the electric vehicle market in the u.s. here is where sales were in the third order of this year. 107,000 salt in the first quarter. plug-in hybrids and hybrids accounted for 10.4% of total vehicle sales in the u.s. this year. explain where those numbers are headed, how big of a difference that was from a year ago. guest: you have got to break down those numbers even further. that is all electrified vehicles. the pure battery electric vehicles segment is only about 2 % right now, but it was only 1%

last year. now you have the ford mustang coming in. you have a small segment with a lock of growth. analysts are divided on what the public market is going to be for ev's. you saw president biden driving a ford f1 50 lightning at the ford plant. all the rumors are key will drive an electric comer at the gm plant, because that is bringing back the big, tough hummer name. you have new startups, radian, lucid. gm has a cadillac ev coming next year. chrysler has evs coming. volkswagen has the id4. the next year or two, we will

see a lot of electric vehicles. but is there a market for them? host: present byte beliefs will be. his executive order -- president biden believes there will be. his executive order reads, america must lead the world on clean and efficient cars and trucks including battery electric, plug-in electric, and fuel cell electric vehicles. it is the industry ready to meet a goal like that? guest: the operative word is goal. if you listen to gm, they have the operative word as a spy or. -- "aspire." people are using words like that because we do not know what the

market is. one issue is recharging. if you only right around -- and right around your neighborhood and make short trips, you'd never have two visit a public charger. the negative is the time it takes to charge. the industry is making some exciting vehicles. they will be making some affordable electric vehicles. the question is, are people going to buy them? host: norman out of florida is up first. caller: good morning. i like the idea of electric cars. my question -- when we travel now, if we pull in to get gas,

sometimes there are three or four cars ahead of us. we might be a half-hour before we get the gas. with the electric vehicle, it takes 3-4 hours per charge. i would sit there 16 hours before i could continue on to my trip. that is my biggest concern. i do not see how as much traffic as we have you put a charge station every mile, but you are going to have people packed up, waiting for the charge. guest: that is a legitimate question. the honest answer is right now

it is not a problem because there are not a lot of electric vehicles. that could become a problem if there are. right now, you have a number of types of chargers i have eight ford mustang machia that i am driving. i have to plug it in in a wall socket. it takes forever. first you need a higher capacity charger at home. if you go on the road, those higher capacity chargers can charge in several hours, not 10 or 11. there are high-speed chargers that can get you up to 80% in a half hour. how many of these do we need? how many people are going to be charging on the road?

are there going to be long backups? carmakers, suppliers are working on new technologies. a company in switzerland claimed they have been able to get charging down to a reasonable time competitive with gasoline phillips. i do not know if that has been proven, but there are a lot of people working on the issue people i know in the industry took some evs. michigan, up north is an area and a lot of of people like to visit in the summer. a lot of people took evs on demonstration trips up north and put on the social need yet there are problems in -- social media their problems in charging. host: blake, arizona.

host: bobby, sorry about that. caller: my problem is i travel from michigan to arizona. when i get to new mexico and need a charger, is there going to be a charger? guest: the purpose of this bill was to put chargers in or of those dead zones. you do not really need the government to put charging stations in southern california, where there are a lot of people, a lot of vehicles, a lot of incentive for a company to put a charging station in there where you need the government to put chargers is places rural new mexico where there are not going to be a lot of electric vehicles but some.

that is the point of the infrastructure bill in the putting in these charging stations. the number is a drop in the bucket compared to what we need. you add in what carmakers are doing and you get decent numbers. another issue is people in apartments. i have a garage. i can charge ev and ev. -- charge an ev. a lot of people are starting to put evs in communities where you can charge when you are at work. host: jim on twitter. does this bill speaks to a dollar charge for a charge? if so, is the federal government involved? guest: i do not know. i asked an analyst.

he seemed to feel that the rules are still being written. congress passes laws, regulators regulations, but i do not know what they are going to be charging for a charge. i can tell you that gm recently made an announcement that they are going to put a number of chargers via dairy dealers in communities -- their dealers in communities. they will decide whether these will be loss leaders to attract people to a restaurant and get a charge while they are eating or charge money. host: maryland, and, good morning. caller: three points. i bought my first electric vehicle in july. i did not know the tax credit existed until the dealer mentioned it. it was not a factor in my decision. i purchased eight volkswagen,

because volkswagen gives three free years of charging on the network. that is why i went with that particular manufacturer. i absolutely love everything about this electric and no range anxiety. i do not understand where these concerns are coming from. guest: which volkswagen did you buy? caller: the id4, 2021 edition. guest: the id4 is volkswagen's first mass-market ev. it is a midsized crossover suv, right in the heart of the market. it has a range of 200 miles. host: how long are these tax

credits going to be around? guest: that is what is being debated. the tax credits as they existed now start to phase out after a carmakers cells 200,000 -- sells 200,000 electric vehicles. volkswagen will burn through this in probably a couple of years. ford has them, as well. same thing with them. there are other measures pending in build back better. if bill back better does not pass, i would anticipate congress ringing up incentives separately, because it still is a big issue. host: the president will likely be talking about build back better today.

you can watch on c-span.org and on the new video app. tanis, california, good morning. caller: thanks for taking diving call. the first thing is i have witnessed something. i live off the pacific highway. in santa barbara, the freeway backs up to where i live. all the electric vehicles were stranded everywhere. they had no power. they tried to get a hotel to get power. the hotel had no power. i would like to see how that works going forward. in california, we drive a lot. unless you have as many electric charging stations as you do cars, and -- as you do gas stations, it is going to be hard.

guest: not just stations, but reliability of the grid, which we know is an issue in california. utilities do you have to prepare their grids for more and more electric vehicles. eight lot of them are talking about incentivizing people to charge their vehicles overnight, but that is an issue. if you break down with a gasoline powered vehicle, someone can bring you a gallon of gas, you can put it in your vehicle and get to the next gas station. if you break down with an electric vehicle, you will have to be towed to a charging station. like any new technology, there are going to be issues to work out. the first adopters are the ones who deal with those issues. first adopters like having new

technology as opposed to having their life totally convenient. for people who totally want convenience, you have got to think about it. and ev -- an ev may not be right for you today. host: john, florida. caller: length of charging time, a simple solution would be standardized batteries. when you call into a station, you will replace the chart -- the uncharged battery with a new charged battery like for a flashlight. the batteries would have to be standardized in the industry. that would be a hurdle, but it could be done. that would solve lengthy charging time. as far as running out of gas, they would just bring another three to you. guest: eight lot of people do not understand that ev batteries

are huge, often several hundred pounds, maybe 1000. having a gas station with a bunch of those, theoretically it could be done. but you would have to make them swappable, have a lot of them on hand, have a lot of power to recharge simultaneously. the other issue is that the batteries themselves -- i know just enough to know how much i do not know, but they are complex pieces of engineering. they have to be worked with properly or there is a fire risk. it is not like taking a battery out of a consumer electronic device and slapping a new one on. also, it is part of the vehicle's infrastructure.

the battery is pretty much the entire underneath of the vehicle. it takes the weight down low, which makes the vehicles fun to drive, because it gives them a low center of gravity. while it sounds good in theory, there are a lot of practical issues that i as an engineer know. an engineer could probably give you a list three times as long. host: pennsylvania, rich. caller: another solution might be to incorporate solar panels into the pains or the skin of the roof. well you are driving, you are charging more when it is parked, it is charging. maybe you cannot get to a charging station, but if your

car is sitting in a hotel parking lot or when you are at work, your car is charging up. it will save a lot of lines at the charging stations. guest: there have been some concept vehicles that have solar panels. they do not provide enough electricity to give a significant recharge, but what they have done is they will operate some of the ancillary devices in the vehicle -- heating, air-conditioning, radio. but it takes a lot of electricity to run a car. so i panel technology does not produce that -- solar panel technology does not produce that much electricity. all of these comments may not work today, but so much research is being done that perhaps tomorrow they might work. host: roberta, san diego. caller: we need to be careful

about what we repeat, because it is dangerous to repeat part of what people say. the reason we are talking about electric cars is because we want to get a foil. isn't that true? host: do you think it is true? caller: yes. is that true? guest: lowering emissions is certainly a goal of the administration. they have talked about moving to 50% of new cars being electric cars. caller: what are we going to do about everything that is made with oil? host: what happens to gasoline- powered cars? guest: that does bring up

something that people are not really thinking about. right now, california is taking the lead among states in saying they want to ban gasoline- powered engines i 2035. -- by 2035. let us s.a.t. nation decides to ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. that would be the sale of new vehicles with gasoline-powered engines. that would not impact vehicles already on the road. it takes about 20 years for a fleet to totally turnover. to get the vast majority of vehicles off the road, that takes you past 2050. you see the long-term time frames we are talking about.

gasoline-powered vehicles -- i was born in 1955. i doubt i will live to see the day where there are no gasoline- powered vehicles on the road to it will be a long time before all gasoline-powered vehicles are gone. host: a few minutes left with jeff gilbert, chatting with him as president biden is set to head to detroit. will you be at the event, mr. gober? guest: it is limited press. they will let us know later this morning. host: if you had a chance to ask the president a question, what would you ask? guest: about the incentives, whether he thinks incentives should also give a boost to unions. the uaw thinks it should, but there are a lot of plans of

plants that do not have unions that do not like that idea. that is probably the biggest issue brewing right now. now the question is, did gm tell you if they are going to make an electric or that? he hinted that a couple of years ago. gm would not comment, but it has been a major rumor. host: maybe we will learn more in the president's remarks. it is set for 4 p.m. eastern. you can watch it at c-span.org or the video app. a couple of colors have been waiting to chat with you -- callers have been waiting to chat with you. host: al, ohio. caller: i am having trouble, i am trying to replace the

batteries. the lowest price to replace the battery is $15,000. people ought to think about that. like i said, three years, that is all they are. it makes me wonder. i am going to go back to gas. guest: i would also suggest that -- did you say bolt or volt? caller: the price of the battery is -- host: bolt like bear or volt like vulture? guest: if it is a chevy bolt, which is a pure ev, those are being recalled.

gm is replacing the battery. the issue is legitimate about the cost and how long people are going to keep these vehicles. carmakers generally say they feel the battery is going to last the lifetime of the vehicle. the other issue that we have is today people will keep a car 20 years. when you get past 10 years old, are there going to be replacement batteries because the technology has improved? is there going to be a market for that vehicle because the technology has improved? the chevy bolt 2 or 3 years ago was state-of-the-art. gm is going to have better performing evs in a couple of years. is the market for an old electric vehicle going to be like the iphone four?

this is what i love about my job is i have a front row seat for everything. but these are issues and areas of concern. host: last call from the sunshine state, fred. caller: first i have a point. you said it perfectly. it is going to take years to get this right. why are we stopping the production of our oil now? we know it is going to take a while. the only thing i would say is that with the 200 miles of being able to travel, for me to get to florida if a hurricane is coming, you had better have a lot of stations that are going to be charging us up. that is going to be a massive mistake. host: mr. gober?

-- gilbert? guest: i am not going to touch the oil issue. i studied the audio industry, but this is a new technology. if you can accept the issues that go along with new technology, perhaps an ev is right for you. if you want the best convenience, gasoline-powered vehicles are probably right for you. that is how the situation stands right now, but the world is not a static place. things are going to change. the reason i like covering the audio auto industry is because it is like reading a great novel. every time you turn the page, there is an interesting twist. host: a busy day ahead for jeff

gilbert. up next. we are going to turn the phone lines over to you. open forum. give us a call on any issue. phone lines, democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. start calling right now. we will be right back. ♪ host: it is time for our open

forum. phone lines split as usual. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. let's us know what is on your mind. president biden headed to detroit to tout the infrastructure ball. -- infrastructure law. yesterday, he was in new hampshire. president biden: we always remember the big picture, always making the economic case for

investments and how they will matter to real people. how clean water, access to the internet, building bridges, everything in this bill matters to real people. your allegation is laser -- delegation is laser focused on being more needs, the people of new hampshire, the concerns discussed around our kitchen tables. this is about what happens to ordinary people. conversations around kitchen tables are both profound and ordinary. how do i cross a bridge in a snowstorm? what happens if the bridge collapses and there is a fire on the other side? it will take 10 miles longer to get to the fire. people could die. what does it mean if a school bus, logging trucks cannot

cross? it means jobs, time, energy. how do we emerge from this pandemic with a real chance to get ahead? those conversations took place at the kitchen table where i grew up. maggie,, jeanne, chris and me, we all discussed those questions. host: the president will be in the motor city today to talk about the infrastructure bill and likely the build back at her act. we are expecting a vote on the house floor sometime this week. time for your calls. akron ohio, line for independence. caller: in regards to thanksgiving, turkeys wish they

could wish on their own response to not be murdered for thanksgiving. every year, millions more people decide not to be involved in killing animals for their food. what do turkeys have to give thanks for? david cox, who is going to be executed today in mississippi, the first execution in nine years. this year, murdered prisoners a nd many are praying that the democrats will abide by their election promise to end capital punishment in the u.s. one other point? host: make it quick. caller: the medicare tracking

system, the largest database in the country, ran two tests on vaccines. the number of people over 80 and under 80 who had died within 14 days after a vaccine, the number is 48,000 people. host: taking your phone calls. open forum. any public policy issue that you want to talk about. dominic is in new jersey, and independent. caller: i wanted to touch on the ev topic. i find it a little troublesome -- the current administration is forcing the market's hand by increasing the price of oil. i would prefer that they take

the route of leaving oil alone but pushing incentives such as cash for clunkers. in 2008 --i worry that if oil prices are being inflated, it does hurt the bottom, the poorest. that should be considered before forcing the market's hand, slowing down oil production, and increasing the price of oil. host: jennifer, oak park, illinois, democrat. caller: i wanted to talk about how older -- how everyone running our country is in their 80's. not that bad, but i think the

reason why america is so behind is because of the fact that the people running our country are elderly. they seem to not care about progress. they are stuck in their ways. they know that the world has changed. they are scared. it has become a real problem, like a huge block -- huge rock in everybody's way. we used to be the greatest country that everybody looked at to be like. now, we are number 35 or something in everything. host: who is a younger leader who you think is ready to step up and lead, whether it is in congress or the white house?

who is somebody you would like to see step up? caller: i was hoping for a woman president. i would have said, lack harris -- kamala harris, but leaning towards, not all the progressive women, because sometimes they have a problem getting the point across, the wrong wording. i would like to see even gillibrand. she has been working for over 10 years trying to get the same bill passed. people like the women who are trying to make sure that we still have our health rights and that we can finally maybe start adding some injustice to the violence that happens to us on a regular basis. host: st. petersburg, florida, george. caller: i was wondering about

these electric cars. where are they getting the electric power from? how much call does it take to drive these electric vehicles? my truck is '93. i get over 34 miles to the gallon. i do not know where they are getting the power. host: terry, mount airy, maryland, democrat. caller: i am troubled that were presented to gosar of arizona -- representative gosar of arizona put a video showing violence against a member of the opposite party. i was wondering if you could

tell us when the congressman is supposed to appear in the house in order to be censured? host: the reporting is that house democrats plan today to rebuke representative gosar and strip him of his committee assignments for posting that animated video depicting him killing a democratic congresswoman and attacking president biden. he has not apologized and played down the video, claiming it was a symbolic portrayal of a fight over immigration policy and saying he would not espouse violence or harm toward any member of congress. expect to hear more at some point today on c-span. elizabeth, peru, indiana,

democrat. caller: i am calling because i have got many issues. my main one is biden being chastised for the economy when they need to realize that it starts with the big oil companies and works its way down the chain. farmers are getting overcharged for fuel, meatpacking industries overcharged. everything that we produce all-stars with the oil companies and works its way down to the consumer. i am tired of everybody blaming our president for the economy when they need to go after the

big oil companies that are feeding into these lobbyists in washington and to some of the representatives in congress in keeping it going. host: republican leadership in the senate yesterday came out and talked about president biden's leadership on the economy and the impact they say it is having on inflation. this is senator john thune yesterday. senator thin: we -- thune: we have seen for the past 10 months what democrat government looks like. whether it is the disaster at the border, at the ports, the pileup, what is happening in our cities when it comes to the

safety of our communities. you can go right down the list and see example after example of where democrat governance is leaving the american people high and dry. the most obvious example is inflation. they passed a $1.9 trillion bill in march. that has fueled these inflationary pressures. instead of listening to what the american people are saying. the generic people -- ballot shows the largest lead for republicans in 40 years, the democrats are covering their ears. this reckless tax and spending spree is flooding the zone with more spending, chasing too few goods, leading to higher inflation.

october to october, at the highest inflation rate in 31 years, 6.2%. but if you look at eggs, poultry, fish, meat, 11% increase october to october, all being fueled by the policies that democrats have passed and are talking about trying to pass. the cbo are going to come out with a score at some point which is not going to be favorable to the democrats. the democrats claim that all this spending costs zero, as if that could pass the laugh test with the american people. the taxes, the spending, the debt all contributing to what the american people all perceived to be the biggest economic issue that they face, and that is runaway inflation

and the impact on their weekly budgets. i do not expect the democrats to get the message, but surely the american people are sending one. the message is do away with this massive, reckless tax and spending spree and get inflation under control so that we have more to take care of our needs. host: john thune yesterday on capitol hill. taking your phone calls on this open forum segment. any issue, phone lines are yours. this is sue out of fairfax, virginia, independent. caller: i wanted to talk about energy. went back to the previous segment about electric vehicles, these incentives, as well as solar panels are helping china,

because we are also seeing all the pollution for the processes going to making batteries as well as panels to china. they are doing so with mostly coal energy, which is dirty. the other thing we are doing is subsidizing the very richest folks who can afford eight second vehicle or those fortunate enough to own their own home and subsidize solar panels. this is going to hurt the poorest of the poor. increased inflation. every dollar spent by the government is either going to paid back with taxes or inflation. that inflation is hurting the poorest of the port. it is a bad policy decision. americans have wishful thinking where we want to think that batteries and solar panels are similar to microchips, but the technology does not advance the

same way microchips did in the past 20 years. it is myopic. we do not need a battle on sheep energy. host: joe in pittsburgh. caller: thank you for taking my call. i had a couple of questions about electric vehicles and solar panels. i have not seen any long-term studies about the effects of it when they end their useful life and how we can recycle or dispose of them. i remember in the 50's, 60's, early 70's when we were pushing everything from aluminum and glass to plastics. everybody was talking plastics, plastics, plastics. now we cannot get rid of the plastics. i do not want to see a problem for future generations where we have those problems with the

electric vehicles. host: terry, phoenix. good morning. terry, argue with us? this is deborah in michigan, democrat. caller: thanks for taking my call. i wanted to say that everything that has happened up until this point today -- the supply chain, gas prices, everything -- is because of one man who lied in the beginning about the pandemic. this is all pandemic-related. host: joanne, south dakota. caller: i would like to know if the congress is ever going to address the use of hidden money.

in my state, there are trillions of dollars. yet, the poorest counties of the station on the census. host: you are talking about the pandora papers? caller: yes. host: what do you remember from that reporting? the hidden money a big part of that? what other aspects struck you? caller: where it does the money come from? who is hiding the money? why isn't it public information if the state and federal finances half to be public? -- have to be public? host: the reporting continues about the pandora papers revelations. from the guardian today, a story

about the president of chile being impeached over revelations in the pandora papers. one of many stories on that consortium of news organizations coming together to report on the pandora papers. chris, arizona, independent. caller: i am a retired military officer. 22 years as a naval aviator. the words that go through my mind our duty, honor, country. one of the things that is very frustrating when i see these individuals in washington, it seems like they have forgotten those words. we cannot balance a budget, we cannot get an honest number of people coming across the border. inflation.

where is the duty, honor, country in the people who are supposed to be doing this? host: ronald, pennsylvania, democrat. caller: my question is what is the deal with police reform? will it ever get done? host: charlie, texas, republican. caller: people keep complaining about the government and people in the government. people need to quit voting for the same people over and over again, reelecting the same people who do the same things over and over again. all they want is money. they do not care about the people. host: one member of congress not seeking reelection is just be a

j --ac --representative jackie speier. she is the latest retirement impacting democrats. speculation about more to, in light of a midterm election that could be very good for republicans, at least as far as the latest polls show. this was representative kim jeffries yesterday. caller: -- >> every individual that makes the decision to retire from the house democratic caucus, we are going to miss. certainly representative jackie speier an incredible courageous, bold, fierce advocate for the american people will be missed, but she has made that personal

decision. she served her country ably. this in-state redistricting year. sean and i came in in he tried. but he is a redshirt freshman in terms of being the member of the class of 2012. but it was 51 of us. 51 of us in 2012. i believe we picked up 15 or 16 seats that year. that means that the vast majority of the class of 2012 came in as a result of retirements. because that is what happens in a redistricting year. we are not even on pace to hit that number yet.

we will see what happens, but this is to be expected and i don't believe it has anything to do with our prospects in 2022. we are going to hold our house and we are going to do it because of extraordinary leadership. speaker pelosi, patrick maloney, most importantly because we are delivering for the american people. host: kim jeffries on capitol hill. it is lewis out of cambridge, ohio. democrat, you are next. caller: don't everybody understand that it was donald trump that caused these gas prices to go up? everything is about the pandemic, how he messed it up so bad. and these people will not take these vaccinations. they are hurting everybody. they are hurting this whole country. that is all i have to say. host: did janet out of rockingham, north carolina. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call.

i would like to address that i am very ashamed of the way our president -- i'm talking about clinton, obama, also the present president, and trump have acted as leaders of this nation. i believe we should put america first. i did not know if everybody knew that the president now had given every illegal immigrant that came across the border for the same $1200 that we received. and now he is talking about giving them more money. i don't mind people coming to this nation. but i would prefer that they came the right way. there has to be a solution and an answer to this, because they come here, they do not have jobs, and they will begin to rob, steal, and kill.

i am evidence of that, because i have been robbed eight times. they went in my buildings and house. you know, they just sell whatever they can and traded for drugs or whatever. host: janet, on money for illegal immigrants, perhaps you are referring to some of those recent reports about the potential payouts for settlements for the immigrant families separated at the southern border. lawsuits are ongoing as part of an effort by the biden administration to look back on the trumpcare's zero-tolerance policy. numbers of $450,000 per person for immigrant families were reported. it was president biden who called that number garbage just a few weeks ago. the white house saying that number was not the final number.

it was one of the white house press secretary's, katrine jean-pierre, who said the negotiations are ongoing. those reported figures, higher than anywhere that a settlement would land. that was a week or two ago, but that number is very much been in the news since that time. this is bobby in silver spring, maryland. democrat. good morning. caller: listen here. the only way to fix this thing here is by each country, each county, each state -- whatever you want to call it -- to kill off 80% of their dumb people. host: all right. we will go to john. good morning. caller: hello. i tried to call the independent line. i want to remind everybody that all fossil fuels or a form of solar energy over the eons. there would be no life on earth without the sun. thank you, and god bless what you do. host: kevin, ft. wayne, indiana.

you are next. caller: i just want to say we need term limits. that's all we need, term limits. these people have been in office way too long. they get way too comfortable and they need to come out here and live with the mess they made. host: what is a fair amount for term limits for house and senate? caller: i would say 10 years. and maybe they could switch it, maybe do another 10, you know, in a different house or -- as far as the president, he should get a straight eight. he should not have to worry about running again. host: you would be ok with members serving 20 years? and in the house, 10 in the senate? caller: 20 years total. you got it, yes. host: kevin, the argument we

hear against term limits is that it allows the staff in -- on capitol hill to have more influence, that the veteran members rely more on veteran staffers who do not have term limits, and the expertise transfers in that direction to the unelected people versus the elected people. what do you make of that argument? caller: where there is your problem. the bureaucracy is too big. you have too many people in their running their mouths. we need a smaller government is all we need. they got way too much. there is too much going on, they can keep track of it. host: this is don in the constitution state, out of westport. good morning. caller: yes. i think this whole thing about term limits is ignorance. if you want an ignorant group running the government, like trump, then, sure, give him term

limits. if a guy like franklin roosevelt served many terms, you need people who are bright and then let the people who do the voting will make term limits. there is a lot of nonsense going on in the republican party the moment. the democrats did it back in 1968. we were not eaten. now the republicans are a little bit nutty. they've got to get their act together or we are not going to have a two-party system that makes sense. host: to the keystone state. this is john. good morning. caller: hi. with the electric vehicles, i was wondering, how are we going to pay for our infrastructure when nobody is buying gasoline anymore? because i pay, like, dirty

percent of a dollar for every gallon i buy. i don't know how you were going to, you know. -- you are going to, you know. you can't even pass a trillion dollar budget for bridge repairs. thank you. host: so, $1.2 trillion bill passed into law, signed into law earlier this week for infrastructure. that is what the president is going to be talking about when he heads to detroit today. we are expecting the president to speak around 4:30 this afternoon. fourth -- 4:30 p.m. eastern. we will be carrying it live on c-span.org. you can watch it on the c-span now video app. the president likely to be talking about the build back better act. that is the $1.75 trillion social spending bill we are expecting the house to vote on this week. it would then have to be passed by the house, passed by the

senate, and passed again by the house if the senate makes any changes to what the house passes, it would then go to the president's desk. we are waiting on a scoring from the congressional budget office, that nonpartisan office tallying up the cost of the bill and looking at the offsets as well. the white house has claimed this bill is fully paid for, though, as politico noted, yesterday afternoon the white house is now bracing for a bad cbo score. bad in this case meaning it would cost more than the money brought in under the legislation. a lot of discussion about what that nonpartisan congressional budget office scoring will show. senator john cornyn with his thoughts on how democrats are handling the cbo score in a series of tweets this morning for our program when on the air. route the process, senator

cornyn said, many argued there was no need for a cbo score in the white house and treasury had provided enough information about the bill. he said the beltway has been transfixed by the process of getting congressional budget office scores for the build back better act, which is now scheduled to be released, he said, on friday. he said now the attitude has shifted from neglect to disdain as the white house has begun to preemptively attack cbo's professionalism in anticipation of getting a bad score. we will cover, of course, the reaction to the cbo score does come out at some point this week. back to your phone calls. mike, hyattsville, maryland. good morning. caller: yes, i want to just say to the american people, regardless of party, that if we just get everybody just pay attention to the truth and make

your decision based on what is best for the country. i travel around and i have gone to different places and i'm telling you i have met great people. i can tell that the american people really care about this country. if we just come together as the voting bloc of this country and do what we know is right, not about somebody trying to trick us or undermine the process, just do right by the country, do right by the children in the country, everything will pretty much work itself out i'm looking forward to the back better act being passed, again, for the benefit of the country. i'm looking forward to one day immigration being a process we can get solidified for the benefit of the country. i understand people want to come here. i get all of that. but we do have laws and order.

we do have a process, or someone of a process, about wish you could come here. but we need to do and secure our military, make sure everything is taking care of to protect the greatest country on this planet, united states of america. god bless you. host: to the magnolia state, this is robert, an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to make a positive saying. i'm an independent, but i have voted for republicans and democrats. i think every project, every railroad, every airport, every road and bridges being built or will being built, fixed, a sign should be put up that says, voted by democrats, rejected by republicans. thank you. host: robert, there were 13 republican house members who supported that will, and even

more in the senate who supported the infrastructure bill. do you think they get to claim credit? host: there is one in alabama claiming it, and he voted against it. true? host: there are republicans in alabama who voted against the legislation, you are correct. milton in corpus christi, texas. democrat. good morning, you are next. caller: yes, i was calling about the raise. medicaid is going to take a lot of that from us. inflation is coming up. that was my question. host: all right, stephen in michigan, you are next. caller: is this me? host: that is you, stephen. caller: all right, i have a solution to the immigration problems. until you put the people that hire these people in prison

along with the illegals it is going to continue. you put the people that hire them in jail with the illegals, that stuff will dry up overnight. you got to stop coddling these people they keep breaking the law. and they are breaking the laws. you hired an illegal, go to jail, period, with the illegals. host: to the tar heel state, this is joe, republican. morning. caller: first time caller. i'm listening to all of these democrats calling in, and i tell you the damage they have done to this country is he repairable -- irreparable. i grew up on communism for almost 17 years. i don't know why they hate donald trump. i tell you why they hate donald trump. they hate donald trump because he negotiated all of those good deals with mexico, canada,

japan, south korea, china, and all of those other countries. he did nothing but good for the country. host: joe, when did you come to the united states? caller: i was 17 years old. i came here in 1959. host: how long did it take to become a u.s. citizen? what was that process like? host: it was 4 -- caller: it was four years. i had a sponsor. the sponsor was my father. his sponsor was his sister's before that. we came in and they checked my father's bank account so we did not become a burden to the society. here they are just coming over the border. if you don't have accountability who comes and goes you don't have a country. host: one more question about your story.

when did your father come to the united states? caller: he came eight years before us. it took us nine years to get out here. you know, to get a passport and everything. host: he came right after world war ii? caller: yeah, after world war ii. host: what did he do when he came here? caller: he was a cabinetmaker. we all had professions when we came here. yeah. these diehard democrats remind me of the germans who followed hitler's all the way to the abyss. we all know what happened to germany at the end of the war. destroyed. host: that is joe in north carolina. time for a few more calls. 10 or 15 minutes left in this open forum. as usual, by political party, democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001.

and independents, (202) 748-8002 . we mentioned this story. expect to see action on the house floor on this front. house democrats plan to move on wednesday to formally rebuke representative paul gosar, republican of arizona, strip him of his committee assignments for posting an animated video depicting him killing democratic congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez and attacking president bynum. he has not apologized and instead played on the video, claiming it was a symbolic trail of a fight over immigration policy and saying he would not espouse harm 20 member of congress. that story noting he has privately blamed aids for posting that video. -- aides for posting that video. that censure may happen on the house floor.

a little history on since years. the last member of congress to be formally censured was new york democrat charlie ringo. he faced teen ethics charges and including some related to fundraising efforts for the city college of new york. it was charlie ringgold back in december of 2010. here are some of charlie wrangle's comments to reporters following that censure back in 2010. >> i think history would show that a different standard has been used in this case, where i did not curse out the speaker, i have not tried to have sex with minors, i did not steal any money, i tried to help city college and it has been hard for me to get some of the people in the press to state that out of the 13 charges seven of them are

related to one event. and you don't have to be a lawyer to say that. if you have no intent to violate the house rules as it relates to encouraging people to make donations to charities -- which is perfectly legal if you follow the rules. but if you break the rules and think, as i did, that it was official for me to try to get resources not for me, public resources for a public institution to encourage education, that one big mistake caused me to send out letters on my stationary, get staff to get the names of foundations concerned with educational projects, and not to ask for money, you bet your life, encourage them to meet with the people at city college. >> at the moment of censure,

could you describe what you were thinking? what that was like? >> have you got a license in psychiatry for a place i can go and really discuss this with you? thank you. host: congressman charlie wrangle, the now former congressman after he was censured back in 2010. that was the last time a censure vote was held on the floor. then reports today of another censure vote for congressman paul gosar, the republican from arizona. watch the house for today on c-span for action on that front. back to your phone calls. this is joshua in raleigh, north carolina. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. thank you for everything you guys do. you are about the only news i can take. i want to give everybody something to think about. everything we have was built by

immigrants. the railroads were built by the chinese that were immigrated over here. immigrants have added to our nation like nobody's business. i'm pretty sure if we consider food, everybody gets chinese food, get pizza. like variety in america. and diversity is a good thing. my other question is the fact of when oil is sold -- and correct me if i am wrong -- even when it is sold on the open market in other countries they have to take their currency and exchange them into dollars. which basically means that we get a lot of free money and a kind of props up our economy. my concern is the fact -- and if i am wrong, please tell me

because i would like to be informed. if we get off oil and petroleum products then we could lose our leverage in the main market. i believe it was after world war ii that that was enacted, that oil had to be sold in dollars. is that still true? host: joshua, i would point you to a good resource for that is s&p global. he was on this program yesterday and spent some time talking about gas prices in this country. he writes about oil markets for s&p. a good place to go is maybe his twitter handle. he was on this program, was happy to answer questions yesterday. that segment, if you want to watch it, is about 40 minutes

yesterday talking about gas prices in this country, available on our website. patty, atlantic city, new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? host: very well. caller: i have a comment and question about the paul gosar thing you were just talking about. first of all, as a regular citizen, as a jewish-american, is frightening to see the white supremacy going on. especially in the congress. i know they are censuring him today, and that is a political act. my question is this is the capitol. is there not a human resources department where people get reported and there is punishment for things that they do?

i worked in municipal government for years. i don't understand why this has to be a political censure. it should really be like an expulsion from human resources. host: patty, congress is its own human resources department. they do everything via votes and through the members and leadership. one of the things that nancy pelosi is pushing for in this case is to remove congressman gosar from his committee posts. that being a particular punishment. it is the committee posts where members often have the most power, because they focus on committee assignments that they push for, that they work to get so they can have influence over issues important to their districts. that is something that could happen today as well. caller: but i mean, just the obvious relationships this

person has to groups that are anti-semitic and so forth. it just seems that -- i know they are elected officials and the people elect their representatives, but there still should be a shortened set of rules that are across the line. just like if you apply for a job at mcdonald's if you have a shoplifting on your record you might not get that job. there needs to be things that cross the line, especially on the taxpayer dollar we are paying these representatives. basically to do these horrible -- host: i guess the members would argue it is the voters who decide what crosses the line and they decide at the ballot box. caller: that is correct. that is what makes me so upset

about what is going on in america today. because whether you are republican or democrat, you know, nazi symbols and so forth americans fought a world war to rid the scourge of nazism and it should not be tolerated in any way. host: that is patty in new jersey. ernest is in columbus, georgia. you are next. caller: good morning. i would like to put a positive spin. a lot of people calling in and they are upset about this and that, but i am a conservative, but i am really immoderate. i think if you think about it most of the people in the united states whether democrat or republican, they are moderates. a lot of time we overreact to the extreme left and the extreme right. there is crazy people on both sides. i go out every day and i interact with people and i don't

see democrats, i do not see republicans. i see people work and i see people trying to mount something. i think we need to put a more positive spin. we have people in charge of our government. why don't they look at the middle and look at the good things and wonderful things that is going on and let's quit bickering over these idiots. let's move forward and get something good going and get off of this craft -- crap we think we hate each other. host: if i could promote one or more of our segments from this week, you might be interested in carol doherty's appearance. he is with the pew research center. they came out last week with their political typology report. the focus of that report was trying to get beyond red versus blue or republican versus democrat. they break down the political

spectrum in the united states among nine different political typology categories. he walked through those categories where moderates said, where the folks on the extremes set. it was a pretty wide ranging discussion we had back on monday morning. so, available at c-span.org if you want to go back and watch that. ron in johnstown, pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. when you look at president biden you are looking at a real president. i'm really satisfied with his work and i hope the house of representatives stays democratic. the other thing i wanted to mention is the critical race theory being taught in schools. it is not being taught in schools, you have to remember in many southern schools were teaching the masters, the masses were kind to the slaves and they

treated them really well. that is, to me that is not the right thing to be teaching. critical race theory should be called the truth theory about the way the southerners treated the slaves in the south. the other thing too, rittenhouse, this kid that killed two people in kenosha, you know, i can't understand how all of these conservative reporters on fox news and newsmax are supporting this kid. this kid killed two people, came down there with an illegal gun, and talk about white supremacy, this kid along to the proud boys in illinois. and the judge in this case is unbelievable. host: ron, that case now to the jury and they are in deliberations. i expect when the verdict does

come down we will be talking about. perhaps tomorrow or the next day on "washington journal." greg in findlay, ohio. you are next. caller: good morning and thank you, sir, for taking the call. -- my call. i was a little disturbed to hear that comment from the man that came to america in 1959 in regards to democrats being like nazis. you know, i find that really disturbing, because a lot of my family fought in world war ii. and to complain about immigrants coming across to this country, you know, if they had $20,000 in their pocket to get a good lawyer they could become citizens a lot quicker with two pennies in their pocket.

it makes no sense. you know, i hear all of these comments about christianity. where is it? where has it gone? host: i wonder, why do you think some people are so quick in this country to make nazi comparisons ? we hear people make those comparisons about democrats and republicans on this program. why do you think people go there? caller: i think, you know, it is still a generational viewpoint and a generational philosophy. i think as a young child we played with, you know, german plastic soldiers and american soldiers, and, you know, some even back then, it was just like, trained. they still look up to them as heroes and how could this man,

you know, came here to this country turn his back on the very country that he lives in and he benefits from and, you know, we just went through veterans day. you know, here where i live there is more people that show up for the halloween parade and they do the military. as far as the nazi comment, i think that in reality, deep down they still look, the ones that are extremists, you know, they look at hitler's as an idol. you know, they are connecting the dots to, you know, what we had before the last four years. host: we will leave it there in this open forum. about half an hour left. in that time we are going to be

joined by congresswoman dena titus. a member of the transportation and infrastructure committees. she will be talking about the build back better agenda and what is ahead this week. stick around. we will be right back. ♪ >> today federal communications commission chair nominee and other nominees testify at a confirmation hearing before the

senate commerce science and transportation committee. watch live coverage starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern starting on cs but -- on c-span three, or watch full coverage on c-span now, our new video app. ♪ >> walter pincus has worked in journalism for over 60 years of his life. until 2015 he was a national security correspondent for the washington post. on the cover of his new book it is subtitled america's deadly betrayal of the martian -- marshall islanders. it was that island that served as the staging ground for nuclear tests beginning in 1946. the castle bravo test over bikini a toll in -- bikini atoll is where america detonated its

largest nuclear -- >> book notes plus is available on the c-span now app or wherever you get your podcasts. ♪ >> download c-span's new mobile app and stay up-to-date on the days political -- biggest political events. even our live interactive morning program, washington journal, we hear your voices every day. c-span now has you covered. download for free today. >> "washington journal" continues. host: congresswoman dena titus join us now. she serves on the transportation and infrastructure committees. thanks for being back with us. guest: thank you for having me. host: on the build back better

act, what is the latest you are being told about when that vote will happen this week and what is your sense of whether the entire democratic caucus can unite behind that $1.75 trillion bill? guest: well, the sooner the better. speaker pelosi said we are not going home for thanksgiving until we do it. i think it is scheduled for tomorrow. we will have the cbo scores by then for most parts of the bill. the moderates who were concerned about that seemed to be getting satisfied. i think we will all unite behind it. have said from the beginning that it is a two-step process. we need to do the human, soft infrastructure now to complement that. no good to build a bridge of a person does not have a job and a car to drive over it. host: on the cbo score, this headline yesterday afternoon, the white house is bracing for a bad cbo score. bad meaning a score that shows this bill is not paid for.

what is your sense of what that would mean in the caucus? guest: i'm not sure it is going to be a bad score. we looked at different pieces of it up until now. it seems to match what the president has said it would cost. i believe it will be covered. it may be a little here or a little there, but i think there is enough support to pass it, even without the republicans. interesting how they vote against things and go home to their district and brag about them, stand therefore the ribbon-cutting and holding a check they brought home even if they were no boats. host: 13 republicans voting for the bill. would you welcome them holding the signs? guest: well, that's a different story, of course. those who are brave enough to step up and those who put their constituents' concerns first are certainly entitled to brag about it. host: let me invite viewers to join the conversation. congresswoman dena titus, the

dean of the nevada delegation. for democrats it is (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independence, -- independents, (202) 748-8002. you were at the white house signing ceremony for the infrastructure bill. what is that going to mean for the silver state? guest: we are excited. when the economy is hit hard nevada is hit harder because we rely on tourism and hospitality. people need to have money in their pocket before they go on holiday. he compound that with the covid pandemic where you don't feel safe to travel and it has really been hard. that bill will have money for expanding the internet added to roll nevada, then inner-city areas like the one i represent in las vegas. roads and bridges will be repaired, and we are excited about that. we have a lot of that in nevada that needs to be covered i have

been working with regional transportation commission in las vegas, as well as m.. they are looking -- mdot. they are looking forward to that money. have a lot of pedestrian accidents. you heard about their recent crash with the raiders player. if we can make our streets safer, and also money into mass transit so people can get back to work, shopping, get to the doctor. that will be a big help too. host: we mentioned you are the dean of the nevada delegation. you came into congress during the depths of the great recession. how has that downturn compared in nevada to the downturn we have seen during covid? guest: it really is comparable, except the recession was really focused on housing. at that time the district was a little more into the suburbs than it is now.

we had seven of the top 10 zip codes in the whole country in that one district for foreclosures. a lot of people have come to california, speculated. prices had gone up until they crashed. we spent our time helping people stay in their homes, deal with foreclosure, bringing banks and nonprofits to the table. this time we have high unemployment. housing is an issue, affordable housing and rental assistance, but the needs are much broader. at that time we had 1000 calls a week. in the pandemic we have many calls asking about, where is there check? we had somebody people unemployed the federal government provided the funding, but it was the state apparatus that had to get that funding out the door. we were just not prepared for that kind of quantity of people who needed it. in addition we put money into

restaurants, people into closed, shuttered venues. it is a big part of las vegas. and just the check that people got as kind of a supplement to help them through the day was also of great assistance. host: plenty of calls for you already. john in essex, mary -- essex, maryland. you are a first. caller: two years ago unemployment for women was at its lowest in a long time. now you say you have to give them childcare and pre-k and take care of their kids to get them back to work. how were they working before without that? guest: well, perhaps some of those jobs were not desirable jobs. i don't know where you have gotten your statistic. in las vegas we have strong unions, especially the culinary union which deals with hospitality. they help their members. you notice there is a big need in the workforce.

people cannot find help, whether it is the restaurant business or the computer world. so we believe childcare is not only the right thing to do, but will be good for the economy because it will let people not just women, but people, families who have been homeschooling and taking care of their children while they were out of work, get back into the workplace. it is not like you have to give it to them, it is something that will be good to give to them. we are one of the only few countries in the civilized, industrialized world that does not provide some kind of assistance with childcare. host: rhinelander, wisconsin. john, independent,. good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. i'm 50 years old. basically there is nothing in the bill back or plan that does one iota of anything to help me. like children are gone, don't

have children. you know, there is nothing in the bill that helps me out. my town as a small town of 10,000 people and in the local paper this week they had anything in there about the $500 billion that helped everybody. or is the other $500 billion at? host: john, what kind of work are you in? caller: i'm retired, because unlike the federal government i paid my bills and did not buy brand-new cars all the time and cap my finances very tight and was able to retire early. that is the way this country should be working. you pull yourself up by your bootstraps, live within your means, and there you have it. the american dream. host: congresswoman, i will let you jump in. guest: well, i commend you for being frugal all of your life and being able to retire early.

not many people get to retire at age 58. i can tell you how this benefits you. if it brings back the economy, it will bring down inflation, it will increase products on your shelves because it will address the problems we are having in the supply chain. let me give you one example. i'm sure even at 58 he may have a few medical problems. you may take a few medicines. hopefully it is not too serious, this bill will allow negotiation by medicare to bring down the price of pharmaceutical drugs. you know, this is something that even if you just have asthma those prices have gone up and up, and the pharmaceutical companies have been getting rich and the money is coming out of your pocket that you have saved all the time that you were working. that is one example of how to bring it down. overall if the economy improves everybody will improve. this is a rising tide that lifts all ships. host: appropriate for us to go

to titusville, pennsylvania for congresswoman tina titus. good morning. caller: good morning. guest: good morning, beth. caller: i have a comment regarding any of these bills being -- one that has passed and when they are going to be voting on. this bill does not directly help the people. they keep saying they were likely helping people, but they are not. it is all going into infrastructure or something like that. you know, i know that medicare and medicaid, social security, that they are helping, but we the people need help directly, like, more stimulus money. people need help with their rent and bills to get out of this hole they are in. guest: yes ma'am. one of the things we need to do is make sure people know what is in the bill.

it is a complicated bill, a lot of programs are for helping people directly. there is until assistance in this bill, just like we had in the recovery act. the subsidies for child care directly to people. the savings on the medicine goes directly to the people. the expansion of medicare to cover hearing aids goes directly to the people. so i think what we need to do -- and this is something we have to do as democrats -- is get the word out about specifically what it does. the first bill may be more indirect because it does go to infrastructure, but the second bill is all about investing in the people. it is that soft kind of infrastructure. the president said at the signing yesterday that he is going out on the road and talking about what is in there. even the infrastructure bill that takes lead out of pipes and you get to drink clean water, that is pretty much directly to

the people when you turn on your tap. but he is going to be going around the country. members of the cabinet are going around the country. i'm going home for the thanksgiving week. i'm going to be having events to talk about what is in their and how much it does help people directly. host: spring hill, florida. this is jason. good morning. caller: am i speaking with miss titus? guest: i am here. caller: hi, representative titus. i have three things. i will try to get them in as quickly as possible. i'm on social security. i have meds. i have prostate problems. get my dog out of here, sorry. the medicine i was taking cost me $1000. i said to them, i can't afford this. he told me to call up people

that manufacturing and everything else. i find out there is a lawsuit on it. there is a $1 billion lawsuit. i said, i'm on disability, i can't afford this. my question is, there is things and therefore the infrastructure people don't like. social security is being left behind. i want to know about larson. is he going to put that social security restoration act so people can get the help they need? if you could answer that question for me that would be nice. guest: yes, mr. larson plans to introduce it again. i was a cosponsor before and i will again. social security and medicare are two of the most successful programs we have ever done, and we need to be sure that they stay solvent, because people work for them, contributed to them. it is not an entitlement, it is something you earned. we need to not only keep it

solvent, but expanded, negotiate drugs, and i would like to see cover hearing, dental, and vision. host: about 10 minutes before the house comes in this morning. we will take you there live for coverage. congresswoman, when you hearing about a censure vote today for one of your colleagues, paul gosar? guest: i think that will occur today. it is a sad situation when members of congress put cartoons out showing themselves killing another member of congress. this kind of rhetoric just got out of hand under the trump administration. people can say just about anything they want to. we have an attack on the capital, violence is encouraged. we should be working together, not threatening to kill each other. i think the censure will likely pass, and he will be removed from some of the committees that he serves on.

because if you just let this continue it will get out of hand quickly, just like we saw some members of congress wanted to carry a gun on the floor of the house. now, that is just not appropriate and not the way we should be dealing with one another, making policy, and encouraging the public to do those same kind of things. because somebody's going to get hurt. host: do members of congress still have to go through metal detectors? guest: yes they do. and if you try to get around from there is a penalty, just like if you do not wear a mask on the floor there is a penalty. host: back to the phone calls. mark in michigan. good morning. caller: hi. edward dirksen said and milling here, a million there, and pretty soon we are talking about real money. he said this morning, a little here, a little there. i guess it is the same thing, but up would like you to address the salt issue on taxes. guest: this salt tax is a state

and local tax. it is where if you pay a state and local income tax then you can deduct that from the federal tax you pay. right now there is a maximum of $10,000 you can deduct. some of the people from high-income tax states want to increase that to a deduction of $80,000. host: florida, independent. good morning. caller: hi. i just wanted to say that you are very lovely to listen to. guest: well, thank you, sir. host: chris, dayton, ohio. good morning. caller: my question is along the line of the previous caller, about taxes. when the cbo evaluates the bill, do they include taxes that come back to the state, federal government, payroll tax, social security, and all of that stuff? guest: they look at what it will

cost, and so if there is a tax that offsets that then that will not be a cost. so some of these programs that are new programs, that set up new programs with new taxes on corporations, that is more complicated to figure out, remember, they are a nonpartisan group -- both democrats and republicans have relied on them in the past to put out an accurate and respected calculation for what it will cost. also, i will just point out related to this is that 17 nobel prize winning economists have said this bill will help to bring down inflation because more people will be out in the workforce and more production will occur and it will be a long-term investment. those people working will generate taxes that come back to the government that will help to pay for these programs. host: morganville, new jersey.

this is terry, republican. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing today? host: doing well. caller: i'm from new jersey. i was driving down the i was driving down the i-95 with my grandpa. my grandpa gave me blue balls. host: carolina. we will work on getting actual questions for you, congresswoman. guest: i didn't quite understand that, so ok. host: my question concerning the spending bill that was just passed or signed is that where will the money be used as far as actual infrastructure? i understand there is a lot in there about making sure everybody has internet connection, which i think is great. what real infrastructure? i've heard people talk about.

i have tried to find information about myself. could you talk about the infrastructure that will take place? guest: yes, there are provisions in the bill cover a lot of different things. he saw president biden walk across that bridge yesterday in vermont? that is the kind of thing that will be invested in in this infrastructure bill. it will be road construction and repair, bridge construction and repair, water pipes repaired, and sewage systems, in addition to that mass transit, you know buses and light rail that carry people around urban areas, and the internet expansion you mentioned. a lot of this money is in grant programs that state governments and local governments will apply for. for example, there is some for superspeed trains. i would like to see that in nevada, have a train from los angeles las vegas. those are competitive grants.

some of the money will go directly to your state departments of transportation, and they will then allocate it either to the local governments or two projects that they have already written into their long-term transportation plans. there are no real strings attached to that, because we felt like one size does not fit all, that local governments no better they need on their safe streets, and states have their own transportation plans. so that money will go there, and if you look at your transportation department in the state you will see more specifics about where they want to invest it. i do think of it as an investment and not expenditure, because our infrastructure is so far behind the international association of engineers keeps grading us, and we were a d-. as a professor, that is not that great of a great, but we should

be leading the world and we have fallen behind. this is the biggest investment in infrastructure in 40 years. you know, lincoln invested in the transcontinental railroad and eisenhower invested in the interstate highways, and now we are going to try to bring in up to speed so we can be competitive. china got ahead of us with their infrastructure. if we are going to compete we need to get people to places and products to market. host: he mentioned the american society of civil engineers. we had the executive director on this program sunday morning and he talked exactly what you are discussing. the c-, and that was an update. -- upgrade. he went through that grading system they use. sunday on c-span. you can watch it at c-span.org. thomas smith is his name. i want to focus on your for an affairs committee work in a week

that president biden held a virtual summit with chinese president xi jinping. in the time we have left here, assess the u.s.-china relationship right now, this administration needs to do when it comes to china. guest: i don't think we need to give them a birthday cake and call it a party. i think we got to see china for the real competitor that it is. several things we need to address. we need to be able to compete around the world in a leadership role. what we have done in the last four years of the trump administration was pulled back from that role. any time we pull back russia moves in politically and china moves in economically. they are everywhere from sri lanka to lima, peru, building airports and regular ports, and hospitals, and highways. they are too ready to provide a helping hand to some of these countries we need to have a

friend and promote democracy. second thing we need to keep an eye on is china's violation of human rights. you see that with the uighurs. you see it with hong kong, where any dissent is trying to be trampled. and you see it in the new threat toward taiwan. we cannot take this lightly. we do not have to see them as a direct enemy, but we certainly need to see them as a powerful competitor. host: did tariffs work and it came to that competition with china? guest: well, it is a mixed blessing, i guess you could say. maybe it worked a little economic sanctions are something we use traditionally to punish people or punish nations. sometimes they work, sometimes not so much because they are hard to enforce. some of those tariffs hurt our own companies worse than it hurt

china. host: what were some of the areas where tariffs might have done some good? guest: one place where it did not do some good is in the chips industry. we are lacking chips here to build everything from cars to telephones. maybe that will result in some good so that it stimulates a local market and we begin to produce things here at home that we rely on other places for. host: congresswoman dena titus serves as congresswoman for the first district of nevada. her sixth term in the first district, and we do appreciate your time this morning on the washington journal. guest: it was a pleasure. come to ces in las vegas. we will show you a good time. host: some programming notes when it comes to the c-span coverage the house is getting set to come in. reminder that president biden,

expected to give her marks around 4:30 p.m. eastern today from detroit at the general motors factory zero. expected to talk about the infrastructure law. you can watch that on c-span.org and on the free c-span now video app. now, with the house about to come in, we take you live to the floor. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., november 17, 2021. i hereby appoint the honorable espaillat to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 4, 2021, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority